In New Jersey, prosecutors say they think a man who was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head killed two people and got four other people to help him cut up one of the bodies.
The Ocean County Prosecutors Office said in a press release that on June 27, Maxwell Johnston, 35, killed Gabriella Caroleo, 25. The murder happened in Manchester Township. He was named as a suspect, and on July 5, police found him at a house on Ravenwood Drive in Toms River. Police from the area went to the house with U.S. Marshals to arrest Johnston. The cops found four other people in the house with Johnston when they arrested him. They are Elizabeth Mascarelli, 29, Danielle Bolstad, 42, Jared Krysiak, 34, and Jarred Palumbo, 36.
Police say that Bolstad, Krysiak, and Palumbo got out of the house without any problems, but Johnston, who was armed, refused to come out with Mascarelli. After several hours, the police were able to get Mascarelli out of the house. According to the lawyers, Johnston killed himself with a gun and was found dead by a police drone. Mascarelli was taken to the hospital by first responders because she was hurt during the situation.
Prosecutors said an investigation showed that Mascarelli had Johnston in the Ravenwood Drive home for four days even though she knew he had killed the person. Their charge was that she was hiding a wanted person. Further, police found that a murder may have happened in the house on July 3 and that a body may be at another home in Jackson Township. prosecutors said that when police went to that house on July 12, they found “numerous body parts in black bags along with other evidence connected to the murder.” When the Ravenwood Drive home was searched, police found a “defaced”.22 caliber handgun and “additional evidence” of a murder.
The body parts that were found belonged to Kerry Rollason, 56, who owned the Ravenwood Drive home, according to the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office. Prosecutors said the ME found that Rollason was shot several times and then beaten to death before being cut up. Police think Johnson shot and beat Rollason, then had Mascarelli, Bolstad, Krysiak, and Palumbo help him take apart the body and throw it away on the Jackson Township land.
Mascarelli, Bolstad, Krysiak, and Palumbo are all charged with holding people up and destroying human remains. Mascarelli is also charged with having guns. Prosecutors say that Krysiak is still on the run while Bolstad and Palumbo have been caught over the last few days.
“The crimes that were done to Mr. Rollason are upsetting and scary.” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a statement, “I am grateful to the police officers who worked hard to find these heinous and heartless crimes.”
It’s not clear why Rollason was killed. Caroleo’s family told WACP that she was dating Johnston and that he had abused her. She told her family she was in danger by calling them hours before she was killed, her mother told the news source. She was the mother of a 3-year-old.